


An Age of Innocence

by OddmentsandTweaks



Series: A Treasured Collection [13]
Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Ahkmen is adorable, Anna and Ragnar are ridiculous as are Jed and Octavius, Bhekabantu is a bamf, F/M, Gen, Larry worries, Museum as a family, Rebecca is kind, Teddy and Sac love each other, Teddy and Sac talk and listen to one another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 02:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6686005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OddmentsandTweaks/pseuds/OddmentsandTweaks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ahkmenrah has been accidentally returned to his 5 year old self with no knowledge of his life outside of the palace in Ancient Egypt. He's already spent a month in the museum being looked after by the exhibits, he's learned English and is beginning to accept, that for now, this is home in the 'hall of the Gods' </p>
<p>Larry and the rest of the exhibits are still reeling from the news from Rebecca, former docent now international best selling author on the life of Sacagawea, that after checking the tablet in details reveals that there's nothing wrong with it, there's nothing they can do to bring Ahkmenrah back, all they can do is just deal with the situation as best as they can...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I did promise you wouldn’t have to wait too long! This is part of the reason you have had a long wait, I didn’t want to leave you on that cliff-hanger indefinitely so I wanted both chapters finished before I published them! Here is a much longer chapter, dealing with some of the fall out of the bombshell at the end of the last chapter. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on the last chapter and not given up on this story! I’ve got lots of exciting things to come, and I will certainly try to keep up with a monthly update after this posting. 
> 
> Thank you again to everyone who’s been commenting and leaving their kind words of encouragement about everything that’s been going on with me, you guys are wonderful and I really, really appreciate it. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, please let me know what you think! :)

**An Age of Innocence**

Larry sat in silence, allowing the enormity of what Rebecca was saying sink in. His brain refused, there had to be SOMETHING they could do!

“No! There has to be a way!”

“I’ve tried everything I can think of right now, gone through all the arrangements of the words. Right now the tablet reads, ‘Grant life everlasting unto Ahkmenrah son of Merenkehre, descendent of Ra, let his nobility be attended at all times by those       that surround him in restful repose.’”

That pulled Larry up short, “Wait, what? That’s what it says?”

“Yes, did Ahkmenrah not tell you?”

“No, but then,” he considered, “I didn’t ask. So, that’s why they all come to life? They’re supposed to serve him?”

Rebecca nodded, “Basically, I think it works because they are models, they’ve never been alive, some pharaohs were buried with representations of servants called ‘shabti’ rather than the real thing and going by what Ahk’s like I’m sure he would have been buried with models rather than people, I can’t imagine him condemning hundreds of people to die to serve him in the afterlife.”

“No, no Ahk wouldn’t do that, not ever, but that means, all the museum, all those inanimate objects, they’re technically his shabti since they’re surrounding him? The fact everyone comes to life, it’s all _for_ him not just _because_ of him?!” Larry dragged his hands through his hair haphazardly, “No wonder he didn’t tell me!”

“Why?”

“Ahk’s very touchy about being seen as ‘above’ people. He doesn’t like being set apart, for him that has only brought pain and crappiness so he’s always more than eager to be seen and counted as ‘one of the group’ if this got known then I bet he’d be scared that people would turn their backs on him.”

“They wouldn’t, surely!”

“No, I don’t think they would, not now they know him but Ahk is pretty good at getting scared and then hiding the hell out of it.”

“So where does this leave us?”

“Well, can you change the combination of words?

“Technically yes, but that would completely change the magic and its effect, there’s no telling what would happen to everyone.”

“But Ahk managed to get everyone back the museum that time everyone got out!” 

“Yes, but Ahk is the _controller_ of the tablet, he can make spells that will be obeyed, it’s a variation on the existing theme, that they attend him, not ‘serve.’ They will listen to him with that setting if he ever really chose to, and he can command them to obey if he wanted to.”

Larry sank back in his chair. “I, I didn’t think, it never occurred to me he really had that kind of power.”

“Why?” Rebecca was genuinely confused, “You saw it, same as I did.”

Larry nearly exploded, “Because he’s never used it since! Jeez! He could have bent the whole museum to his will, had Attila dance the cancan every time the whim took him. He could have punished EVERYONE for leaving him to suffer for 54 years! Oh my god. I think I need a—” He trailed off, choking on his sudden realisation.

“Larry, calm down. Look, you and I both know Ahk is a good man, that he really did his best for everyone. But right now that man is gone and we have to deal with what’s left.”

Larry looked up sharply, searching Rebecca’s face for any hint of uncertainty, “You really think there’s no other way?”

“I really do, I’ll keep looking of course, but I can’t incant a spell, even if I could get my ancient Egyptian perfect, it’s beyond risky.”

“Couldn’t we get Ahkmen to say it?” tried the desperate night guard, “It is his after all, and he speaks the language.”

“Larry, how good is the average five year old’s vocabulary? Even a very bright child like Ahkmen isn’t going to know the right words and it needs to be word perfect.” She paused for emphasis, “Larry, we get a syllable wrong and it could end everything.”

Larry knew she was right but he didn’t have to like it, “So there’s no way around this?”

“No. I really, _really_ wish I could tell you different, but I just can’t risk it, we could accidentally kill him, stop the magic entirely, we could end up blowing up the museum with an overload of conflicting magic! I just don’t know what the consequences would be and I don’t want to find out the hard way. I know you don’t either.”

“No,” Larry was firm in this, the very idea of even accidentally hurting any of them made his stomach drop. “I can’t, I can’t risk him, any of them.”

“So we’re just going to have cope as we are.” 

“We?”

“I’m due some leave, plus I haven’t see you or the others in the flesh for months. If I can’t help the whole situation I can at least offer my help where I can.”

There was a part of Larry’s heart that leapt at the idea of Rebecca returning, not that she would look twice at him of course, he was just a night guard, she was not only a newly qualified Doctor of American History but she was also a bestselling author. But still, it would be great to see her. Even if they couldn’t fix the current situation.

“Here? You’re really going to come?” He couldn’t keep the note of delight from his voice.

“Of course, I’ve missed you, all of you.” She added quickly, “And I feel responsible that I can’t fix this for you.”

Larry softened his expression, “C’mon Rebecca, that’s not fair, you did your best and you’re going to keep looking aren’t you?”

Rebecca’s gaze hardened with determination, “You know I will, if I come across anything that might be useful I’ll let you know. Larry, it really is going to be alright.”

Larry deflated in front of her, “But he’s just so tiny. I mean, sure he’s a happy kid but he’s so far from home, sometimes I listen to what he tells Teti—”

“Teti?” questioned Rebecca.

“His teddy bear, Martha knitted it for him after the whole ‘sensory-immersion-makes-Ahkmen’s-room-smell-like-his-parents-and-thus-made-him-horrifically-homesick mess.”

“I remember you telling me, but I didn’t know about, she cut herself off before continuing, “Martha really made him a cuddle toy?” Even after seeing Ahkmen in the flesh and hearing all the stories from Larry she couldn’t quite imagine Ahkmenrah ever needing something like that.  

“Yeah, well, she’s basically adopted him as her grandson and well, given the magic, the night after she finished Teti, she came to life like everything else, Ahkmen loves her utterly, she’s his silent little cuddle buddy and he tells her everything. Everything. I’ve not caught much yet but goddamn Rebecca, we need to make sure Ahkmenrah’s brother never comes here.”

“Why?”

“Because he was a grade A asshole, I mean Ahkmen’s five right now, and Kahmunrah—”

“The Butcher of Giza.”

“What? What now?”

“Kahmunrah the Vicious, that’s the title he was given, he murdered thousands during his reign of terror.”

Larry honestly wasn’t surprised. “Well that explains a lot. He’s already been traumatising Ahkmen, did you know he gave Ahkmen’s pet cat up as an offering to Bast? The kid couldn’t even argue, it was done before he could and then had to accept it as a great honour. I mean, come on! It was his pet cat!”

Rebecca looked horrified, “He would have been fourteen then I assume?”

“Kah was I guess.”

She nodded as though everything was falling into place, “Well, just double that at 28 he had half of the royal court murdered for having loyalties to Ahkmenrah. Who was known as ‘The Noble’ by the way.”

“Oh my god, please tell me he’s never been found.”

“No, I know he hasn’t. He was deposed and dismembered and fed to the crocodiles of the Nile, he was never entombed so no one will ever excavate his burial. Ahkmenrah, I mean, Ahkmen is safe, he’ll never have to deal with his brother again.”

“Well that’s something at least. God, Becca, he’s just a little boy. He’s—”

“Very well loved here,” stated Rebecca with absolutely certainty.

“Well—”

Rebecca cut over him, “Larry, listen to me, the little boy that bounced in here is happy and healthy, he clearly is very comfortable here, he’s suddenly gained a huge set of adults whom adore him and let him play, he obviously loves you and the fact that he’s been adopted into Teddy and Sacagawea’s family is doing him the world of good. Larry, you’re all doing your best and by the looks of it, it is more than good enough. He’s taken so well to living here, I know there’s been ups and downs but that’s the same with real children. You know that from raising Nicky, the most important thing is that Ahkmen feels secure here, safe with all of you. So you’re all clearly doing a very good job.”

“I, thanks, thanks Rebecca I needed to hear that.”

“And I’ll keep telling you. Honestly Larry, you can do this, you’ve _been_ doing this, all of you, I know it’s not the answer we wanted at all but still, it’s not an impossible situation.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to make a few changes.”

“Oh?”

“We’ve been pretty restrictive on a few things, didn’t think it would matter if we only had him for a month but looks like we gotta change a few things.”

“Like?”

“TV, we didn’t really want to show him that if we only had him for a short while.”

“But surely that would have helped keep him entertained?”

“Yeah, no, um, when we showed Ahkmenrah for the first time, like, actual grown-up Pharaoh of the Nile, ruler of a civilisation Ahkmenrah, he basically turned into a little kid on the spot, he was so excited, asked me stuff as fast Ahkmen does, whilst just about stopping himself from hopping up and down, seriously, I’ve seen Nicky act more mature!”

Rebecca laughed, “that must have been a sight!”

“Yeah, actually it was really nice, it was the first time, outside of the dance party where everyone was letting their hair down that I saw beneath the Pharaoh mask, not out of upset but that he was genuinely excited about something. He was beaming and talking and wanted to know everything about how it worked, seriously, I’ve seen Nicky more relaxed about things! And honestly, I’ve just not been prepared for round two, which will be higher pitched and twice as fast!”

“I’m sure you’ll cope.”

“Yeah, yeah I will.”

“It will be alright.”

“I know, it’s just I feel guilty, on the one hand I really want him back but on the other it’s nice to get more of a chance to make his second childhood a happy one.”

“That’s not a bad thing Larry, making the best of the situation.”

“No, I know, but it’s not fair on Nicky, he wants his big brother back, it’s not fair on Sac and Teddy who’ve basically had a second son dumped on them.”

“But you’re all sharing the load as best you can, if they really had a problem with it they would have said, you know they would and there are plenty of other exhibits who want him around. Trust me Larry, from everything you’ve told me and I think you’ve told me most things everyone is as okay as they can be.” 

“Well, yeah, I suppose, the museum’s bonded more since Ahkmen’s been on the scene. He’s just so affectionate, it’s even made Octavius broody never mind the rest of the actual parents here.”

Rebecca smiled at that mental image, “Well that’s something, if he’s helped bring you all closer then that’s something I don’t think anyone will begrudge. You’re all doing okay, Attila’s even learning English! I mean, Larry, it’s okay. You guys can handle this, I know it’s not the same but it’s not the end of the world and I promise I will research the hell out of this to see if there is way we can fix it and bring our Pharaoh back. Actually.” She paused frowning in sudden thought, “How on earth doesn’t McPhee know about this yet?”

“Oh, that, um, well.”

She knew that tone, “Larry, what did you do?”

“Well, ever since he had the padlocks added—”

Rebecca cut in, voicing her horror at that particular development, she couldn’t imagine how horrendous it must have been for Ahkmenrah, Larry had told her how bad his claustrophobia was which was hardly surprising but to have that fear exposed wholesale must have been horrific. Larry was in pieces on the phone to her after that, feeling beyond guilty that it had happened at all despite him having no way of possibly knowing. “I can’t believe he’d do that.”

Larry shrugged unhappily, “Special sanction. He was really worried someone was messing with Ahkmenrah and that it wouldn’t stop at just a plastic baby as a prank. I mean, you know him ‘Becca, he really does care about all the exhibits, he just wanted what’s best for them, Ahk’s pretty prized after all.”

“Yes I know but—”

“Yeah, it was horrible, not going to lie, Ahk was jittery for weeks after, he still hadn’t got over it when this happened. And I think Teddy would be grey if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s wax.”

“Jed and Octavius really did come to the rescue.

“Absolutely, those guys saved the day. And came up with a way round the locks.

“McPhee still hasn’t re-checked?

“No, I mean, he trusts that they’ve been done, he checked the day they were done and he was satisfied, plus he checks all the CCTV footage to make sure no one’s been messing with it, the magic fritz’s them all out come sundown so he’s not seen what they look like now.”

“And this is what you’re banking on?

“For the moment?” Larry dragged a hand through his already mussed hair, “Yeah.”

“So what did you do?”

“Well,” Larry looked everywhere but Rebecca.

“Larry—”

“I got a Halloween skeleton and wrapped him up in Ahk’s bandages okay!” Garbled the night guard, “I put it in the sarcophagus every night after dawn so it doesn’t disturb Ahkmen, he doesn’t take up much room anyway and I cover him with a dark blanket and put the wrapped figure up and no one’s the wiser if they happen to look in on him.”

Rebecca was aghast, “Really?! That works?!”

“What else I am supposed to do?!”

“No, sorry, I didn’t mean you, I mean yes, you’re doing the best you can, I know that, I’ll see if there’s anything I can get made up for you that might be more convincing, wait, actually, doesn’t the skeleton come to life?”

“Um, probably? Honestly I don’t know, I know it doesn’t come to life like Ahkmen since it’s polystyrene and it’s silent, it doesn’t make any noise at all, like I’ve never heard it move. I just put it in a cupboard during the night.”

There were a lot of things Rebecca could have said about ethical practice, about care for all animated creatures but the man she saw in front of her was one on the raggedy edge, Larry did his best for everyone, plus, there was little they could do for an animated skeleton.

“Fair enough.” Was her final comment.

Larry let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you.”

“So what are you going to do for the rest of the evening?”

“Tell Teddy and Sac.” Answered Larry immediately. “They need to know and then we need to plan what to do next.”

“That sounds good. Listen, I’ll try and arrange some dates when I can come up and in the meantime I’ll read up on everything I can to give us an idea of what to do about the tablet.”

“Thanks Rebecca, really, thank you. You’re keeping me sane right now.”

“Larry, you really have got this. It’s all going to be okay.”

“Keep those fingers crossed for me.”

“I will Larry, I promise.”

“Thanks, look, I better go, got people to tell and—”

“I know, go, it’s going to be alright Larry, Ahkmen couldn’t be in better hands.”

“Thanks ‘Becca means a lot.”

“Good, maybe it’ll start to sink in. Now go, go be the night guard and I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye,”

“Bye Larry, take care.”

“You too.”

The call ended, the screen returning to the normal homepage.

Larry let out a deep sigh, burying his face in his hands for a long moment, trying to take stock of everything. Rebecca was right, it was true that Ahkmen was happy and healthy, Teddy and Sacagawea had adopted him entirely into their own family and the rest of the museum were very much honourary uncles and aunts. Ahkmen adored all the adults but was especially enamoured of his immediate museum family, Nicky and now, thankfully, Larry himself. Things really could be a lot worse. But.

Larry sighed again, trying to get himself under control.

He missed Ahk, Ahkmenrah. He missed the young man who had been slowly growing in confidence, showing more and more of his true nature, all of it and not just the regal mask his hid behind. He missed the laughter of his son and his adoptive son as they discovered something new or tried to practice their abysmal juggling skills. He missed Ahk’s good sense whenever a crisis arose. He missed seeing him play soccer or playing with Jean Baptiste. The museum was definitely lacking without him but at least, in his place, his five year old self was doing his best to bring the museum closer together. Even if he didn’t mean to.

Urgh. Stop it Daley, stop wallowing. Get up, be the Night Guard and deal with this. He told himself in his best ‘Teddy’ impression voice. Come on, get up and go tell them. Very, very reluctantly Larry got to his feet, straightened his tie and headed out of the office.

***

It took Teddy roughly half a second to tell that things had not gone well.

Larry looked grey for a start.

Teddy shored up his own personal reserves of strength, right, so he was going to have another child in his care for the foreseeable future, well, _their_ foreseeable future. He and Sacagawea had already talked about this possibility. But still, he’d be lying if the news didn’t send a pang through his admittedly waxen heart. He loved the little boy, of course he did but he did rather miss the adult he once was. Teddy missed his own sons dreadfully and getting to know Ahkmenrah, earning the privilege of becoming trusted, becoming a confidant and seeing the young man slowly appear from behind that pharaoh mask. Teddy, in his more privately arrogant moments hoped Ahkmenrah saw him as much as family as he did. Having both Jean-Baptiste and Ahk had done a lot to heal his bruised paternal heart. Oh well. No time for wallowing, he had a job to do!

“Lawrence!” Cried Teddy aloud, hailing the haggard looking night guard. “Come on my lad, back to the office, you look like you need something to fortify you.”

“Teddy I—” Began Larry brokenly.

“I know Lawrence,” smiled Teddy gently, “it’s written all over your face my lad. Come on, let’s head to the office.”

“What about Sac?”

“She’ll join us there, she heard you leave and found me first. Ahkmen is with Ragnar and Anna at the moment, along with half the civil war soldiers, they are all trying to one up each other on impressive gymnastic moves it seems.”

“Right.” Larry let that sink in. “Are the Vikings break-dancing? Because I don’t think I can handle that right now.”

“I have no idea what that means, they aren’t destroying things if that is what is concerning you, Anna’s keeping them in line, however, you do have at least half an hour before a certain princeling wants to show you how impressively he can launch himself down a corridor.”

Larry breathed a sigh of relief, if Anna was in charge things couldn’t go too far south, “I can live with that.”

“Good good. Now come on my boy, onwards.”

True to Teddy’s word Sac was waiting for them, three glasses ready poured. Larry took one gratefully and sank into a chair.

“So.”

“So.” Larry nursed his drink, not making eye contact.

“I take it Rebecca wasn’t able to help our little friend?”

The night guard took a hearty gulp of the amber liquor, “No, no she wasn’t, she said there’s nothing wrong with the tablet, nothing is out of place, it reads the same as it did before and only a word perfect spell in ancient Egyptian that we’d have to find or construct could even hope to undo it. And that, if we get it wrong by a syllable we risk destroying everything here trying to fix it.”

“So,” spoke Sac quietly, “there is no way we can get him back? Ahkmenrah is lost to us? Until he grows up?” Sac’s eyes were large and dark, shimmering with unshed tears for a lost, beloved brother. Even if he grew once again she would no longer be his _Ka-Sister_ but Moon Mother, which of course was an honour and she cherished that trust but she had lost so many people already. She wanted her spirit brother back.

“Well, I don’t know,” began Larry, trying to lighten the mood, “it might wear off, I mean, it might just still be dealing with magical aftershocks or something.”

She fixed him with a firm stare, “Larry, I do not need the truth sweetening.”

“But I do.” Admitted the desolate man, “There’s nothing I can do to fix this. We’re stuck, he’s stuck and it’s not fair for anyone.”

She bowed her head a moment, gathering her strength before facing the men once again, “Life isn’t fair Larry. But we endure.”

Larry dragged his hands through his hair again, “I don’t want you guys to endure it though. You’ve endured enough. I’m supposed to look after you.”

“Larry,” began Sac, holding his miserable gaze with a steely glare as if daring him to contradict her, “I would have hoped by now you had realised we all look after each other.”

“Yeah, I know but—”

“No buts, of course we want Ahkmenrah back, all of us want him back with us as he was but if it is out of our hands, if it is too dangerous to bring him back then we have to make the best of it. As we have been doing.”

“But both of you guys have been dumped with an extra son—”

“Whom we love Lawrence, it can hardly have escaped your notice that we do not begrudge Ahkmen nor his presence here.”

“No, I know that, I didn’t mean—”

“I know what you meant, we have already discussed what we should do should this scenario occur.”

“You have?”

“We have Larry,” confirmed Sacagawea, “there was always going to be a chance that Rebecca, learned though she is, would not be able to help us. We have discussed our options and are agreed.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” they both answered at once, “Ahkmen shall be ours for as long as he remains, he seems happy with us as Moon Mother and Papa Bear, he loves Jean-Baptiste like his own little brother and he is _happy_ Larry.” Sac emphasised.

“I know it’s not what we would have wanted Lawrence but we are certainly doing a good job, all of us in the museum are and I like to think that _when_ Ahkmenrah rejoins us he might have some happier memories to accompany him.”

“You’re sure?” Larry had to be certain, he had to know he wasn’t pressuring them into doing something they’d rather not.

“Absolutely.” They conviction spoke volumes.

Larry grinned, “you know Ahkmen’s pretty luck having you guys for stand-in parents.”

“Thank you,” Teddy paused a moment to share a smile with his beloved, they really did make a good team, “though we are all of us due our credit however, now there is no finite time for our custodianship there are somethings we should discuss.”

“Yeah, quite a few I think, I mean, we’ve got bedtime down pretty well though he’s not had a crash night  I think we’re going to have to show him TV and movies. I mean I know we tried to avoid it but, well, it’s really going to help in the long run.”

“I agree, and it will be useful to have something quieter we can sit with him and do of an evening once he gets used to it. We’ve weathered enough of his questions not for it to be as draining as it once was.” Sac paused, clearly considering the merit of her next comment, “Also, something we’ve been wondering.”

“Yes?”

“Ahkmen’s been asking to go outside, he wants to see the moon, to ask it if he can go home. We didn’t want to say yes without asking you first as you are guardian here but I think it is something that would be very much appreciated.”

“It needn’t be for long,” Added Teddy, “and of course we would accompany him but Ahkmenrah frequented the roof often and I believe it gave him solace, Ahkmen might not have the same reverence but I think it would do him good to get a breath of fresh air.”

Larry knew for a fact that Ahkmenrah loved the roof so it would make sense that Ahkmen would be just as taken however, “What do we tell him outside though?” asked the night guard, “I mean the whole Manhattan landscape, that’s  pretty damn far from ancient Egypt.”

“I’ve been thinking about this,” answered Sac immediately, “I thought we would tell him this is the realm of the gods, we are the chosen but the realm is huge an unknowable because the Gods are unknowable. Do you think that would suffice?”

“Yeah, I think that might just work Sac, there’s enough awe in him for that to work  plus, it gives us somewhere else to take him. We’ll see how it goes, thanks guys for being so good about all this.”

Teddy sighed, “For the last time Lawrence, we are family, he is not a burden to us, of course we’d like a few hours here and there of peace but we are not exactly short of offers of assistance.”

“Yeah true, but still thanks. I suppose speaking of assistance we should go check on them?”

“Indeed, come on, we can witness their display and then take him up to the roof, it’s a clear night, might as well make use of the opportunity.”

“Bully!” Cheered Teddy, draining the last of his glass.

 Larry followed suit, if this was how things were going to be he’d better get used to it.

***

As it was, things were decidedly undestroyed when they reached the gathering, Anna and Ragnar were on their knees holding hands along with most of the other Vikings, Dutch ladies and civil war guys making a long row of human and weird-faceless-puppet-creature hurdles (honestly, thought Larry, he really needed to give them a shorter name). Which other Vikings, Ladies and Civil War guys (minus the armour and weaponry of course and in the case of the ladies not caring who saw their magnificently stitched bloomers that had been made as one of the craft room projects) and one very happy princeling were back-flipping or cartwheeling over. It was quite a sight. Everyone was clearly having a fantastic time. JB was cradled in the arms of the confederate general whooping at all the antics.

They watched as the human hurdles lowered their arms when it was Ahkmen’s turn, Larry was pretty impressed, he’s seen grown Ahk fight and he’d seen Ahkmen leap about so he knew he could move but he wasn’t expecting a five year old to be so precise. He wondered if grown Ahk could still back flip, or cartwheel for that matter as the child caught sight of them.

“MOON MOTHER! PAPA BEAR! LARRY GUARDIAN!” Hollared the tiny child, excited to see his primary carers and the guardian of the hall. “We’ve been doing flips! I showed everyone how to and then they tried! Everyone’s really good!” He threw himself at Teddy, hugging his thighs hard, beaming up at his adoptive father in halls. 

“I know, we saw you!”

“You did?!” The child looked shocked

“Yes, you did very well!” Smiled Sac, determined to encourage all good and happy behaviour.

“Very good my boy!” Teddy caught up the child in an exuberant hug, tossing him into the air before catching him once more and setting him down. The little boy shrieked with joy.

“He is a good teacher, very patient with us older ones.” Smiled Anna, getting up from the floor and joining them. Ragnar followed, grinning at Teddy and Ahkmen’s antics.  The others continuing, having tremendous fun with their new game.

“You listened and practiced what I said, I didn’t think grown-ups listened. Kah and my tutor Rotep said children are for listening and learning. Well, Rotep said that, Kah said I couldn’t teach him anything because he’d already done it all because he’s nine whole years older than me. But you can’t know everything by then can you?”

The adults looked appalled, “No, you most certainly cannot know everything by then little moon,” answered Sac immediately trying to keep the bite out of her voice. She picked up the little boy instinctively, sharing a quick look with Teddy which was rapidly becoming their ‘Let’s try and undo Kahmunrah’s poisonous words’ expression. Sac had the sinking feeling there was a lot more Ahkmen wasn’t saying.

“I certainly don’t know everything, nor does Papa Bear or Larry or anyone else here.” The child’s eyes went wide, he’d never considered that Adults didn’t know everything. He’d always assumed that it was only when you got big you got all the answers. “You can’t know everything little moon, not ever the important thing is you’re always trying, you’re always interested in learning more because there’s so much to discover.”

Ahkmen considered this a moment. “Will you help me?”

“Of course little moon. Of course we will.”

“There’s something you could discover now if you’d like to my boy?”

“What? Where! Yes please!”

“Come on! It’s an adventure!”

Ahkmen trilled in delight, he loved going on adventures with Teddy, the 26th president making a point of it that every few days he and Ahkmen had some bonding time, partly to give Sac a rest and partly because it was a shameless excuse to build up more trust with Ahkmen and get to play like a big kid too.

“Excellent! Shall we bring moon mother?”

“Yes please! Ahkmen turned to Sac, would you like to come with us?”

“I would love to Ahkmen.”

“Can Jumble come?”

“Of course he can, come on let’s get him and we’ll all go to together.” Sac took Ahkmen’s hand and headed over to relieve the general of his charge who saluted at all three of them. Once they were all assembled the group that Larry was mentally beginning to call ‘Family Saca-Roosevelt’ bid him over.

“Would you like to come with us Larry Guardian? We’re going on an adventure!”

“If you’ll want me to.”

“Yes please!”

Anna spoke up quickly when the little boy turned to her and Ragnar, “we’ll stay here and make sure everyone is okay down here, have fun everyone we’ll see you later.”

_“Adventuring will make you big and strong little one_.” Smiled Ragnar.

Ahkmen trotted over to the pair of them, kissing both a good bye before waving to others as they carried on their gymnastic endeavour.

“I’m ready! Can we go?”

Teddy caught up the little boy’s hand in answer, “Onwards!”

***

As they headed up to the roof, Larry fielded most of the questions pouring out Ahkmen’s mouth about their adventure giving Teddy and Sac a moment to reflect on their choices.

They had indeed talked about the possibility of having a fourth member of their family for the duration. They were both worried, they both missed Ahkmenrah terribly and wanted him back but neither was willing to risk the magic for the rest of the museum. 

They’d talked for a long time after bedtime as the month deadline crept closer.

“My dear, we need to talk about the possibility of us not having the outcome we desire when Larry speaks to Rebecca.”

Sac looked shocked, “Rebecca is very learned, if anyone can repair the damage it’s her.”

“I know,” pressed Teddy gently, hating to cause her any suffering but it was something they had to confront, “but we can’t be certain.”

“We need him back my bear, the magic cannot deny us! It’s sustained us for so long, surely it is used to bringing back Ahkmenrah, he has returned for four thousand years by his reckoning, magic does not forget like that.”

“I wish I had your faith.”

Sac deflated at that, “it is not faith, it is hope, one that grows weaker with every passing night.” Teddy looked like he was about to argue, “no, it is true, every night passes and I search, I hope, I _pray_ for a sign that he is returning to us, a word, a look, but there’s nothing. The magic that has caused this isn’t fading.”

“No, I fear you’re right. The problem lies within the tablet itself, which is why I am worried that Rebecca, as capable as she is will not be able to help us, if there is something wrong with the construction of the tablet then there is nothing and no one who can help us. Why is why, my love, I want to talk about we do in that situation.”

Sac’s eyes flashed, “We keep him, there is nothing to discuss on there.”

“Well, I believe there is.”

“What? What is there to say?” snapped Sac, angry at the thought that there was a very real possibility that not only they would be forced to continue with this situation but that more bad news was apparently on the way, she couldn’t stand the idea of the little boy going through anything worse than he already had done, “We agree to care for him that is all that matters.”

“No my dear, Ahkmen is very important, don’t get me wrong however, I am worried about you as well, and Jean-Baptiste.”

“Me? And Jean-Baptiste? Why?”

Teddy stepped forward, gently taking Sac’s hand, “I am worried that you’re enduring without sharing. I know what Ahkmenrah meant to you. I am worried this is taking a toll on you and it is weighing too heavily on you.”

Sac squeezed his hand. “Oh my bear.” Was all she could manage. It never failed to amaze her that he cared so much, that he was so perceptive. It was like nothing she had experienced before with a partner. “I, I miss him,” she admitted quietly, like that could stem the flow of misery, “he was mine, my _spirit brother_. I’ve lost so many and I just wanted, I dared to hope I could keep him like I have you, like I have my son, like William and Merriweather.” She closed her eyes, bending her head sadly, “I, I was too greedy hoping I could keep you all, I know I should be grateful I have as many of you as I do, but, but I wanted us all to stay.” Tears began to escape her, “I didn’t want to lose anyone again. We have all lost enough.” Teddy reached for her and she melted into his arms, crying brokenly against her love. “I will look after him, Ahkmen,” she managed between sobs, “but I, I wish with all my heart it was not so, that I did not have to become a mother where a sister sufficed.”

Teddy squeezed her quaking shoulders gently, “I wish I could take it all back, I wish I could have known to stop all of this from happening, I never want you to suffer my love.”

Sac looked up into her love’s face, “But you are also grieving my bear, the young man you had come to care for like a son has gone.”

“That is true,” he tightened his grip, taking solace in her warm presence, “that young man, for the moment is gone. But we have another son in his wake, I will content myself with that and hope that our Ahkmenrah will return to us sooner rather than later. I miss him terribly my dear, I do, but I cannot dwell, as much for my sake as everyone else’s least not you, Jean-Baptiste—”

“But you cannot hold this all in, it’s too much.”

“I’m not, I’m telling you my dear.” Teddy gave a watery smile, “I trust you more than anything, you already know my heart is breaking as much as yours.” A tear escaped him, “but there is nothing I can do right now other than make the best of the situation, I must continue, move forwards and be the father Ahkmen needs, it is the best way for me, I may channel my grief into something productive.”

Sacagawea hugged him tighter. “Then that is what we both must do, tears will help no one,” and boy did Sac know it, “we shall carry on together.”

“They may not help a situation, but they can help make you feel a little better.”

“You make me feel more than a little better my bear, and the fact you do not curse my weakness.”

“Weakness?! What weakness? I see before me one of the strongest women I have ever have the pleasure to meet and the honour of loving. Never for one moment believe that showing emotion makes you weak my love, it only shows your strength.”

Sacagawea wrapped herself tighter about her bear before kissing him fiercely, pouring all of her love into him. Teddy returned the kiss with all the passion he had, he loved her with everything he possessed. He knew they would get through this together, that they would support each other enough to be parents to both their infant son and the child their dear friend had become.

They stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for a long time.

It was Sacagawea who broke the silence, “my bear, if we are to parent him there are other things we must discuss.”

“I agree, some things we need to change now we know we have him for longer.”

She nodded before continuing, “I am worried about balancing time between the two boys, Jean-Baptiste is good and loving and peaceable most of the time but he still needs us as much as Ahkmen does, I’m worried I’ll get caught up with his enthusiasm and overlook my baby. I’m worried I’ll spend too much time with my baby and ignore Ahkmen, I’ve not had two children to call my own. How did you manage with your first family?”

Teddy was rather touched she asked him so sincerely, he knew it was burden she carried that many in the museum considered her to be a primary and knowledgeable parent. Of course she knew a great deal about younger ones, having been a large tribe and looked after many of the smaller children in her village before she was ripped from them but still, her only experience of motherhood directly was the baby she carried on her back through the north American wilderness. She was not above asking for help.

“Every family is different, I certainly don’t think we are favouring one son over another my dear, both are very happy with us and are certain of their place in our affections. Jean-Baptiste and Ahkmen adore each other, Ahkmen loves that he can be a big brother and takes that very seriously, you’ve seen how he likes to sit and cuddle Jean-Baptiste before bedtime and sing him his lullaby,” (Admittedly they usually had to finish off the song in English and catch both children who’d fallen asleep mid-song) “my boys were rarely that affectionate to each other, I am sure ours here are more than comfortable with themselves and us. Also, I believe Jean-Baptiste will soon manage to add ‘Ahkmen’ to his vocabulary.”

“Yes, he was trying before the accident. I didn’t want to tell Ahkmenrah, I wanted him to hear it for himself.”

That surprised Teddy, “Did he never realise? That whole week with him and Jean-Baptiste calling out ‘Ah!’ whenever he saw him, he never made the connection?”

“No, we would have known if he did. He would have crowing from the roof of how clever his nephew was.”

Teddy grinned at that, there was no denying it, Ahkmenrah was possibly the proudest uncle he had ever met and most assuredly everyone would have known within the hour if Jean-Baptiste had managed the name ‘Ahk’ in the presence of the Pharaoh.

“So in short my dear, I do not think we have to worry too much about spending time equally, I believe we are managing well enough at the moment and we will certainly make sure to that we continue to do so. What else do you think we should consider?” He could tell by the look in her eyes there was still something troubling her.

“I am worried that he will lose his culture with us.”

“What?” Teddy was genuinely surprised.

“Ahkmen, his culture is so different to ours, to anyone else in the museum. If he is to stay with us, as he is now, to grow once more then we need to ensure we teach him the stories of his homeland. I cannot bear the idea of him becoming distant from it through no fault of his own.”

Teddy nodded, “What do you suggest then my love? We can surely tell him stories at bedtime.”

“Yes, that would be a good start, we will have to ask Larry for books on Ahkmen’s culture, Nicky has studied it at school, remember when he interviewed Ahkmenrah for half the night?”

“Ah yes, because they kept having to stop as there were inconsistences with Nicky’s understanding of things.”

“If there was anything Ahk was fastidious about it was maintaining a correct representation of his home. Which is why it’s so important we do this for his child self. There must be knowledge we can share, stories we can pass on.”

“Young Nicholas would be a good start.”

“You’re right my bear, we can ask him to point us in the right direction and maybe, maybe he might be willing to tell some stories of his own to Ahkmen.”

“Ahkmen would love that.”

“We can hope then.”

Teddy wrapped his arms about Sac again for good measure. “Are you sure you are ready for the responsibility?”

Sacagawea considered the Bear of her heart, he gave her such strength, he believed in her, loved her in her entirety, she never feared to show him her spirit, he listened to her, he cared for her and Jean-Baptiste. She was absolutely sure they would take this on together. “If we share it between us my bear I am ready for anything that may be asked of us.”

Teddy beamed, sweeping Sacagawea up in a breathless kiss. He loved how well they worked together, it was such an honour to be able to help her in times of need and see always managed to ease and solve whatever was weighing heavily on him.

Oh yes, between them they could face this new challenge.

***

It took a while to reach to roof, bumping into several exhibits along the way, Ahkmen waving enthusiastically to the familiar trio of the Buddha, the Jade Lion and the Terracotta soldier. The child was fascinated by them and they responded to his usual hundreds of questions with gentle benevolence. Ahkmen, being the tactile child that he was had stroked, poked and snuggled up to all three of them, asking question after question, thankfully it turned out both the Buddha and the Terracotta Soldier were pretty good at charades to explain things to him, he’d even ridden on the lion’s back once or twice.

Larry took advantage of the fact that Ahkmen possessed none of Ahkmenrah’s claustrophobia and ushered them all into the lift. This was a new experience for Ahkmen who immediately burst into a torrent of queries.

“Where are we going? How can we move in a box? Is it magic? Is a design of the Gods? Where are we going?”

At the start of the lift, the gentle whoosh had Ahkmen yelping in surprise and JB cooing at the feeling, Sac had long since used the lift as a way to calm him if he got fractious as the baby loved the sensation the lift caused.

Ahkmen was not quite so sure, he moved closer to Teddy, taking his hand. “What’s happening?”

“We’re going up in an elevator, it’s a special box, controlled by special weights that work like a scale, the weights go down and we move up.”

“Oh.” The child paused, still clinging to Teddy, “how does it know when to stop?”

It was a good question, the 26th president picked up the nervous little boy to hold him level with the control panel, Ahkmen clung to the solid, reassuring form of Pape Bear whilst he listened to the explanation, “here are the controls for the elevator, the numbers on here mean the different floors, floor one means where the desk, Rexy and Jed and Octavius live are, floor two is where your room is, floor three is—”

“Where the craft men and ladies work!”

“You’ve got it my boy!”

“What does ‘R’ mean?”

The lift dinged, stopping.

“You’re about to find out! Come on my lad!”

The doors opened onto the roof, revealing a beautiful starry night, the moon full and round turning everything silver with its touch.

Ahkmen gasped, eyes wide and astonished. It was the quietest he’d been all evening. Even the adults were impressed at the sight, it was beautiful to behold.

 Larry was suddenly reminded of the very first time he’d brought Ahkmenrah up to the roof, it hadn’t been long after he’d discovered Ahkmenrah’s need for sleep, he’d been building trust with the young Pharaoh, determined to try and help ease the young man into museum life.

Larry was just finishing one of his rounds of the second floor when he came across Ahk sat on one of the wide window sills, looking out towards the night sky. The moon was full, a crisp winter’s night clear of clouds. The Pharaoh’s fingers were pressed carefully against the glass as though trying to reach through. Larry could feel the waves of longing rolling off the young ruler.

“Hey Ahk,” began the night guard.

Ahkmenrah startled, leaping up to face Larry, a blush creeping across his face making him look unquestionably like the teenager he was. “G-Guardian, I apologise, I did not see you there. Did you want something from me?”

Larry held his hands up placating, he hoped one day Ahk would finally become comfortable here, that he wouldn’t have that moment of terror streak across his face whenever Larry approached him but as it was, he was just going to do his best to reinforce the idea that Ahk was safe here and entitled to his own liberty. “Hey, no bother here,” he smiled warmly, “just wanted to see how my favourite pharaoh was doing.”

Ahkmenrah looked puzzled, “I am the only Pharaoh here.”

Larry couldn’t help rolling his eyes, “Ahk, it’s a term of endearment.”

“Oh.” He looked uncomfortable at having not picked up the apparently obvious friendliness. He used to be so good at this!

“Hey,” Larry decided to rescue the situation, ‘don’t freak him out too soon Daley, poor kid’s just getting his bearings back.’ “it’s okay,” he continued aloud, “you got a lot of language and lexicon to catch up on, you’ll get there. Anyway, what were you doing?”

“Oh, nothing of importance.”

“Really? ‘Cause to me it looked like you were trying to melt through the window.” He was trying for levity, his go-to whenever he wasn’t sure of a situation. Apparently this was a wrong move with Ahk.

Fear flashed through Ahk’s eyes, “I wasn’t trying to escape!” he explained quickly, how could he of been so stupid to let his guard down so badly?

“Whoa, whoa, calm down buddy, I know you weren’t, I know, it’s okay, it’s just, you looked like you were missing something. I wondered if I could help?”

Ahk surveyed Larry cautiously, the night guard had been nothing but kind and considerate towards him, freeing him, not insisting on him re-bandaging every night, not tasering him into cooperation and allowing him to sleep in peace and freedom with no expectation of labour or thanks. He could trust him with this surely. He hoped.

He took a deep breath. 

“I, I rather miss the night sky, I miss being outside. I am so far from home, five thousand of your modern miles if the map Nicky showed me is correct. I know my home is in ruins, that everyone I cared for there is either long gone into the afterlife or on display around the world but,” he paused, trying to find the right words, “I, the stars, they only change slowly, there are some I knew that according to the astronomy book you leant me are still visible. And well,” he paused again, fighting shame and defiance before the latter won out, “one of my Gods is watching over us tonight, Khonshu, lord of the Moon. I have not, I, have not honoured any of them for so long, I fear they have forgotten one of their children still remains.” Ahk’s voice began to waver on the last sentence.

It took all of Larry’s self-control not to wrap his arms around the miserable young man there and then.

“I am sure they’ve not forgotten you, you’re one hell of an individual Ahk, no one could forget you. Listen, um, what do you need to worship? I mean do you need herbs or fire or—”

“No, no Guardian but thank you, I could use them but I find it better to merely be in their presence, either in the form of a statue or they themselves.”

“Oh, okay,” Larry struggled for a moment, they didn’t have any other Egyptian stuff other than Ahk’s exhibit so what could he—inspiration hit.  “Hey, um Ahk, would, would being outside work for you? You know, to pray? I mean it wouldn’t be perfect and it’ll be cold as hell but you would be closer to the moon at least and-”

He was cut off by a surge of Pharaoh. Ahk threw himself at Larry in a rare moment of undignified emotion, “Thank you! Thank you so much!” The young man seemed to remember himself, he let go of Larry, coughing awkwardly trying to recover his composure, “you, you would permit me?”

“Of course dude, it’s my job, come on, follow me.”

Larry made sure they took the stairs, not wanting to repeat the barely restrained panic attack Ahk had suffered when he’d unknowingly walked into the elevator during one of his first forays of freedom. Attila had heard the pounding on the door and prised it open, hauling out the terrified pharaoh. Ahk hadn’t known what the lift was, in his panic of being locked in again he hadn’t even seen the control panel. Ahk had thanked Attila profusely for his rescue, trying to save the last shreds of dignity.

He’d never gone near the travel machine again.

Larry led Ahk up the stairs to the roof, secretly resenting the apparent fitness of the young man as he bounded up the stairs happily. They got to the roof in record time, Larry fumbling with the keys to unlock the final door, taking a moment to savour the moment before opening the door to reveal the Manhattan skyscape.

The view was breathtaking, even Larry, born and raised in New York was impressed. The night was perfect, crisp and clear, the moonlight glowing so brightly it was almost like day, illuminating the roof and the city scape below in the minutest detail. It really did look like a deity surveying their domain.

Larry turned to say something but closed his mouth upon seeing Ahk’s face.

The Pharaoh was enraptured, absolutely enthralled by the moonlight, the look of joy in his eyes was something Larry was going to keep in his heart for a very long time. If nothing else, he’d got this right.

Ahkmenrah stepped forwards as though he was in trance, utter reverence in every movement. Larry wasn’t a religious man, only celebrating the core feast days of his parent’s faith with them once a year out of duty to be a good son rather than any compelling reason of his own. But this? He hadn’t realised till now how devout Ahk was, how much his faith meant to him.

The night guard very carefully began to move away, quietly, unobtrusively. This was a moment for Ahk and Ahk alone. A truly religious experience. Indeed, the young ruler seemed to have forgotten Larry existed, dropping to his knees, raising his arms in worship to the only God he could reach out to. Words of Egyptian, low and full respect began falling from his lips, head bent away from Khonshu’s magnificence.

Larry bowed out of honour for the moment before silently withdrawing, feeling privileged to have witnessed such a scene.

He never locked the roof again.

***

Larry was dragged back to the present by the piping cry of “Khonshu!”

Ahkmen whooped in joy, leaping for the nearest raised vent cage, climbing on top to make himself taller, eyes turned up towards the sky, momentarily forgetting everything and everyone around him. He dropped to his knees, little arms outreaching.

_“Khonsu lord of the moon, please hear my prayer. I know the gods picked me to live in their halls with all the others but I really want to go home now, I miss my mummy and daddy and even Kah very much! I’ve tried to be a good boy! Please! Please let me go home! Kah would be better! He’s bigger and doesn’t miss cuddles like I do!”_

He waited at least thirty seconds.

No real reprieve seemed to be forthcoming.

Ahkmen sighed and willed back his tears.

_“But,”_ he continued reluctantly, _“if, if I have to stay here and be chosen thank you for giving me Moon-Mother, she’s the best of all your servants and Papa Bear her love. They’re not my mummy and daddy but they’re very nice and I love them nearly as much. And they have Jumble and I get to be his big brother while I’m here. I do really want to go home but thank you for giving me a moon family here.”_ The little boy bowed low to finish his prayer.

The adults who’d been watching silently whilst the child talked to the moon in his native tongue all saw the signs, they had about four seconds before the little boy burst into tears when his prayer obviously wasn’t answered.

“Hey Ahkmen, look at all these pretty lights!”

Larry was trying very, very hard to ignore the pang the sight of the child looking so defeated sent through his heart. It was a harsh reminder that the little boy was as unhappy as they were at him being forced to remain as he was. But. But at the end, his tone changed a little, he sounded, well, grateful. Larry wondered if he was thanking the moon for Teddy and Sac.

The child focused on the night guard, sad face turning puzzled turning to a look of joy as he looked over Larry’s shoulder.

“Guardian! What is that? What are those? They don’t look like torches! There are so many! How are there so many? What are they? What are they for?” Ahkmen leapt off the top of the vent, bounding past Larry and to the walled edge of the roof desperate to see more. Larry beat the others only by a hair’s breadth to reach the child, all three adults terrified Ahkmen would climb the wall to see more. The night guard caught hold of the child’s shoulders in a fatherly grip, Ahkmen was going nowhere suddenly.

He looked up happily, completely oblivious to the minor heart attack he’d caused all three adults, waiting expectantly for a detailed answer.

“Well,” began Larry, “they’re lights of the realm, we’re on top of the hall of the Gods and these are lights show how big it is.”

“Why? Are there people there? Like the outside peasants? Why aren’t they inside with us?”

“Because little moon, they’re not peasants, they’re living to serve the purposes of the Gods.”

“Why? Why are they out there and not in here with us?”

“Because my lad we’ve been chosen specially, we’ve been shown high favour.”

“Oh.” Ahkmen thought about this. “That’s good.” He decided, “But why do the Gods need so many lights?”

“Ahkmen, we cannot know the whole purpose of the Gods, they are unknowable, all we can do is know that we have found favour with them, we have pleased them and remaining the hall continues to please them.”

“So I can’t go home?”

“No, little moon. Your place is here now. With us, it is the will of the Gods.”

“I can’t see mummy and daddy again?” Tears began to well in the child’s eyes. It broke all of their hearts to witness this.

“For the moment, no. We cannot change the will of the gods, as much as we want to.”

Ahkmen swallowed very, very hard and rubbed his eyes before looking up at each of them with unrestrained determination.

All three of them witnessed the child transform before them. This was a glimpse of the core of Ahkmenrah, the reason he’d survived for so long with his sanity and integrity intact. He was willing himself to cope, willing himself to endure this trial.

He drew himself up to his full nearly three feet in height, addressing his audience including the watching moon, he had a duty, if he was bound by the will of the Gods then he would make them proud of their choice, he would make his mummy and daddy and even Kah proud even if they were a very long way away. It would be what they expected of him, he was a prince of Egypt, he was here to show how good Egypt was and he was going to show it was very good indeed.

“I, Ahkmenrah, son of Merenkhere Pharaoh of Egypt accept the will of the gods as prince of Egypt. I will make you proud of choosing me.” He drooped his posture a little bit, eyes focusing on the adults alone. “If I have to stay here will you still be Moon Mother and Papa Bear? You’re not my mummy and daddy and I miss them a lot but I have to be brave now. I love you like them. Can, can I be your little moon here?” He asked in such a fragile voice, eyes huge and puppy-like.

It occurred to them that he’d been rolling along with everything under the idea that this was all temporary as much as they had and now, having not been answered by his God it had all been brought sharply into focus for the little boy, he was stuck here and apparently the child had enough of a sense of decorum already that he realised he’d just sort of adopted Sac, Teddy and JB rather than had any more formal arrangement like he must have had in the palace with nurses and nannies.

He was actually asking for a place in their family.

Teddy and Sac didn’t even need to look at each other, touching hands for the briefest of moments before sweeping up the child together, cuddling him in with Jean-Baptiste who licked the little boy enthusiastically.

“You’re our little moon Ahkmen, for as long as you’re here. We love you.”

“Ah!” agreed Jean-Baptiste.

It might not be the choice any of them would have picked, Larry knew that Ahkmenrah was going to be missed by all of them more than the Pharaoh would probably believe but for the moment, right now seeing him as Ahkmen, wrapped up in the arms of family Saca-Roosevelt looking for all the world the picture of a contented unit. They could do this, they’d cope, it was going to be alright.

Someday they’d get their Pharaoh back.

Right now they had a little boy who thankfully, finally, knew he was safe, willing to let them make this a home from home and there was a whole museum willing to care for him till he returned to his former self.

“Guardian?”

“I’m here little buddy.”

Ahkmen reached out one arm to Larry, drawing him into the circle.

There was going to be something they could do. Together.

 

 


	2. Summer in the City Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!   
> I’m so sorry for the long wait between chapters, work is crazy at the moment as is the rest of my life, not to mention the fact that this chapter just wouldn’t end! Everyone wanted to get in on this one and demanded some attention! This was meant to be a short-one shot story within the series and it has become somewhat larger! It might not have been a fast update but I hope the length makes up for it!   
> Thank you to everyone who has been reading, kudosing and of course leaving commenting! I read all of them and I really appreciate them, it’s what keeps me going! There may be a long gap between chapters but I promise I will finish this series, I’ll update as often as I can! 
> 
> Thanks again!

**Summer in the City**

 

August hit the museum like a particularly sweaty brick. Larry was pretty damn sure that wax and polyurethane figures shouldn’t be bothered by temperature changes but the whole museum was clearly sweltering.

Both the Vikings and Huns had shed their armour, most of the exhibits had shucked whatever layers they could without sacrificing the general level of modesty Larry insisted on. (There were some things that could never be unseen)

It was like they were reacting to his level of uncomfortable rather than the actual temperature. Either way, most of the exhibits were sprawled lazily about the museum, a huge number had taken up refuge in the Ocean Life exhibit, thoroughly appreciating the sea breeze. The blue whale, nicknamed ‘Moby’ because Nicky couldn’t bring himself to name such a friendly creature ‘Monstro’ was rather pleased by all the visitors, he’d learned to sing a little more quietly so as not to blow the ear drums of anyone listening but still managed his songs as happily as before. The visitors had come to hear his songs and he wasn’t going to disappoint!

So summer in the museum was filled with lethargic exhibits and exuberant whale song. Everyone was fairly relaxed, if a bit over-warm.

Except one.

Ahkmen upon feeling the warmer weather nearly exploded in excitement.

“It’s like Egypt here!” He bounced for possibly the 400th time. Larry was ever-so-slightly beginning to lose his mind. Teddy and Sac were dealing with a very unhappy JB who was also uncomfortably hot, his wailing had shredded everyone’s ears and even his adoring older adoptive brother could only deal with it for so long. They’d taken Jean-Baptiste off to try and bathe him and Ahkmen had for once opted to stay with others, he wasn’t all that used to shrieking babies and it was beginning to hurt his ears, no matter what he’d tried his little brother continued to wail so he decided this was clearly a Moon-Mother level problem and opted to stay with Larry-Guardian and the rest of the lobby dwelling exhibits.

But it really was too hot for anyone who wasn’t used to it. Even Rexy wasn’t in any mood to play, flumphed as he was on the floor, his regular playmate of Manny the Mammoth (Honestly Larry needed to limit Nicky’s naming of things, it was like living in a Disney movie) was staving off the heat in the Ocean Life section having previous made up with Moby after scaring him a few months ago.

Ahkmen was beside himself with joy, he’d _missed_ feeling warm like this, the hall of the Gods was alright especially after Moon Mother and Papa Bear gave him cosy clothes to wear but it wasn’t as warm as home. He thought it was probably because everyone had to share and that Gaborik and Tulung wouldn’t like things to be as warm as Egypt as they lived in the very cold north and had lots of furs and things to keep warm so it wasn’t as cold in the halls for them but it also wasn’t as warm for him.  A balance everyone could be in which was alright thought Ahkmen once he realised everyone had to share the space and needed to be comfortable. But now? Now it was WARM.

He’d heard Larry-Guardian talking about something called Air-Con and it not working but Ahkmen didn’t really understand what he meant. Just that it was lovely and warm and like home and he missed feeling like this, like the sun was looking at him directly, making his blood race inside him, making him want to play and run and jump!

And that’s exactly what he did.

He’d managed to tire pretty much everyone out, even Tulung and Rua the liveliest of the Inuits and Huns, Kjartan and Edil having already long since disappeared for the evening. Nicky was on holiday with Erica and Don for two weeks and Teti, his ever loyal companion was doing her best to keep up but she was only a little bear with even smaller legs, it was hard to run around a lot when you were made mostly of wool and fluff. Plus, she was getting very hot too and had had to flop on the floor finally, sitting and watching her friend as the heat got too much.  Anna, in a last ditch attempt to save everyone challenged Ahkmen to see how many cartwheels could he do one after another.

The little boy bounded off happily in the assurance that someone was watching what he was doing. Everything was better if someone watched, it meant what he did mattered, it was worth something.

“How does he do it?” Anna turned to her Nordic friend.

Ragnar smiled, “Little ones _are always_ full _of_ life _silver fingers.”_

Anna smiled, she didn’t understand half of Ragnar’s words but she knew that last one was for her and her alone, she’d never heard him use it with anyone else, “I know but I’m sure this one is stealing our energy to use himself!” Anna fanned herself as she spoke, careful to keep an eye on the cavorting princeling, he’d already got halfway down the long corridor to the hall of miniatures.

Ragnar tried very hard not to look at the Dutch woman as she sat in simple blouse and skirt, stockings and shoes long forgotten, long, long hair tied haphazardly up in a top knot in a desperate bid to keep cool. It was very hard to ignore the few strands that escaped to frame her face perfectly.

The Viking lord swallowed hard, sensing an opportunity to escape this situation before he made a total fool of himself, he could not risk their friendship with a thoughless gesture “then we shall have to tire him and steal it back. Ahkmen!” Yelled the Norseman, “can you roll?”

“Roll?” queried the child, freezing as he was about to attempt another cartwheel.

“Roll forwards _ingot”_

Ahkmen continued to look puzzled, whilst both Ragnar’s and Ahkmen’s English was slowly improving there were some words and meanings they’d not quite cracked yet.

Ragnar sighed, deliberately stripping off the last of his armour and boots leaving only his linen tunic and woollen trews in place. “Like this _ingot.”_

The large Viking tucked himself close and performed a fairly impressive forward roll.

It was Anna’s turn to try not to stare, the definition of the Norseman’s back was not disguised by his tunic under any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully Ahkmen’s trilling and excited clapping meant it seemed like she was looking at the child.

“Me next! Me next!”

“Onwards _ingot_!” Ahkmen needed no more encouragement and proceeded to turn himself into a tiny human hedgehog, rolling along happily, enjoying the fact that for once he was being encouraged to play rather than ‘behave like a prince ought’

He really liked not having nurses and nannies.

The halls of the Gods had their compensations.

“Having fun there Anna?”

Larry didn’t even try to hide his smile.

The Dutch woman blushed crimson, Ragnar missed her awkwardness completely in favour of clapping Larry heartily on the back, “Guardian! Are you well this evening?”

“I’m great Ragnar, just great. Hey, thanks for keeping him occupied for a bit.”

“We hope to tire him, he has stolen everyone’s life”

Larry’s eyes widened in worry, “Life?”

“Energy,” translated Anna quickly, “he’s full of it and the rest of us are, well,” she gestured to the decidedly inactive room. 

“Wilting like a daisy in the Bronx?”

The Dutch woman had no idea what he’d said but she guessed his meaning, “I will take your word for it guardian.”

Larry smiled, “it’s crazy hot, not hot enough to melt you guys that are wax thank god but it’s gonna stay like this,” Anna and Ragnar looked appalled, “ Yeah, I know, I checked the weather report, it’s going to be like this for least another week.”

“Truly?”

“Yeah, I’ll try and get some fans rigged up for everyone but we’ve got a lot of heat ahead of us.”

“And that only seems to fuel Ahkmen.

“The child is reminded of home,” Larry and Anna looked puzzled, Ragnar elaborated, “ The land of the golden sands is his home is it not?”

The night guard considered, “Yeah, you could describe Egypt like that.”

“Where the sun always shines and warmth is as common as flies?” Pressed the Norseman pointedly.

“Yeah, oh right, I get it. It’s like home to him, he’s used to this.”

“More so guardian, this is the closest he shall feel to home, it is joy that fills him, even if he may not understand all the whys.”

“Do you think this will upset him?”

“Does he look upset?”

The child in question was currently trying to walk on his hands.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, let’s just take this one as a win shall we?”

“But what are we going to do if this heat is to persist? We cannot keep up with him for long and he will grow bored before long. These nights colouring will not keep him entertained.”

“No I mean, we’re gonna have to take it in turns keeping him occupied, you’re right, colouring isn’t going to cut it. I can ask around and see if people are willing to do something active with him.”

“Do not ask those of us from colder climates, they’re the ones worst affected.”

“What of Bekebhantu? He might be willing.”

Larry beamed, “Brilliant, he’s a Zulu, those guys ran for miles every day in crazy heat. I’ll ask him. Thanks Anna. For tonight though, I’ll see if I can tire him out with catch.”

It took a while but Larry, with the help of a particularly bouncy ball and Lewis and Clark who’d long since given up any sense of awkwardness around the young prince managed to tire Ahkmen out enough to put him to bed, collecting a very relieved Teti along the way, she was every diligent in watching him but even she had her limits of what she could with him.

They had liked Ahkmenrah tremendously, they liked his manners, his loyalty and how fiercely he had protected ‘Pomp’ on the night of the break in. He had been good for their Sacagawea, adding to her much needed sense of family and, they suspected, she had been very good for him, as other honorary brothers of her they knew just what a difference she could make.

They had been a little, for lack of a better word, nervous around the child at first. He was so tiny, so frightened at first then so full of energy and laughter, so different from the reserved regal young man they had known. They were worried about saying the wrong thing, about scaring him further and then, well, at first it seemed like a disrespect to their friend, to treat him completely as a child.

This thankfully didn’t last long.

They realised very quickly once it was clear the child wasn’t going to disappear after one night that Ahkmen was very much just that, a child, with no memories of his adult self. It also helped that whilst he attached himself firmly to Sacagawea and later Teddy the little boy was incredibly affectionate once he got over the whole ‘pale demons’ thing. It was very easy to imagine him as an older brother to Pomp, there was enough similarity to warrant an unquestioning introduction to a newcomer.

Both men had, by the end of the first week, been completely accepted by the child as part of the family and indeed liked to play and climb and explore with the adventurers. Both Lewis and Clark decided that it was an incredibly satisfying experience to prepare them for when Jean-Baptiste was that age.

***

As it was, the heatwave not only continued but got hotter, still not in the danger zone for wax figures (Larry was checking pretty much on the hour every hour just to make sure) but definitely not comfortable.

Bhekabantu was more than willing to allow the small child to accompany him on his evening runs, it was nice to have some more company, he’d got used to running with several exhibits but since the heatwave had struck they hadn’t been able to keep up. He didn’t do the miles he had in his previous life however, since Larry’s guardianship had begun he’d been finally allowed to just _run_. Run for however long he pleased, wherever he pleased so long as he didn’t startle or upset anyone else. In the last eight months he’d created a range of different routes, some more challenging than others using the stairs and winding corridors as well as the vast halls of display. Running was in his blood, he’d begun in his sixth year a proud udibi, apprentice warrior, charged with light support work, keeping the water and rations moving before becoming a grown soldier in his own right. They ran as commanded, miles in the hot sun to achieve victory in their lightning attacks, he had hoped to graduate from the horns to take his place in the bull’s chest, a veteran of combat ready to fight fiercely against their enemies but before that he had awoken in this hall of misfortune, cold and confused. Incarcerated in his room by fiends in grey he had fought for freedom but only earned beatings in return, they had used the wand that spat lightning at him in that first week and then they had simply locked him within the room, the doors too powerful to break down but at least he had room to pace, to run in circles. A least he could move. But still, he had been ready to kill the next man in that garb but he had not tried to contain him, had welcomed all help to save the hall and had rewarded that with freedom. The young warrior had been almost moved to tears when he found he could run unchallenged once more.

Slowly, more and more had joined him, it became a pleasure as well as a release. He had made an effort to learn the common tongue when lessons were offered, wanting to communicate with his fellow runners. They had made quite the group.

On occasion the sand king from the far north of his land had joined them, he was young, younger than Bhekabantu himself, and eager to feel the freedom their paths allowed, stripped from his usual gold to clothing he wore to spar in the arena they all ran peaceably.

It was still an unsettling mystery that the child that ran alongside, piping questions to him along the way was that same sand king, just reduced, forced back into childhood. Bhekabantu did not question the magic that allowed life to pulse through them each night for he knew he would get no answers. Instead, he tried not to miss the sun and the warmth of the day focusing on new friends and the joy of the run.  

It was impressive how long the child kept talking.

“where are we going?, why are we running? Do you like running? My Daddy likes to run sometimes, he has to practice for the Heb-Sed festival, are you practicing for that? I like running! It’s so warm I can run and run! Why aren’t you wearing shoes? Don’t you have any shoes? Don’t you like shoes? I had sandals at the palace but now I have these, Nicky calls them sneakers. Do you think it’s because they’re quiet so people can sneak in them? They’re red and I love them. I’ve never had red shoes before. I can run better in these than my sandals!”

And so on and so forth.

Bhekabantu grinned at the child, answering questions where he could, asking his own in turn, interested in the lands far, far to the north of his homeland, of the great stone buildings, of gods and kings honoured in rock and where the floods brought both life and death.

The child chattered on happily, he’d deliberately slowed his pace and taken the easier of the routes, intending to keep going till the little boy was tired, the others had begged him to keep him occupied, the others, not so used to such oppressive heat were struggling to keep up with an energetic little one.

He missed being around young ones, as a young man back home he’d found them tiresome and annoying but now, having not seen a child for over 50 years he’d come to appreciate both the baby and the king-turned-prince, there was something about their laughter, their joy in things that made his soul lighter, even if it was for just a little while.

He was still reminiscing over this when he realised he’d not heard a question in a while. Nor were his steps being echoed.

Bhekabantu froze. The boy was no longer with him, the Zulu looked about him frantically until his eyes fell upon a small figure face down on the floor half way back the way they had come. With a jolt of terror the young warrior leapt into a sprint, charging towards the prone child, a panic of thoughts tumbling through him, terrified he’d somehow killed the child, that they’d run too far.

Sacagawea was absolutely going to kill him.

He reached the little boy, heart in his throat, just time to hear a muffled snore.

Bhekabantu very nearly passed out with relief. He was asleep. He was only asleep. He’d heard of the child’s sleepy exploits, he’d even returned the little one a few times from odd sleeping places but he never believed the stories that he could just stop like putting out a flame. He was beyond grateful that it was as harmless as that but reasoned it may be next week before his heart rate returned to normal. With a heavy sigh he scooped up the comatose child and carried him gently back to his official carers, proud he could have succeeded in the mission they’d given him but also privately glad he got to keep his hide intact.

“Oh, hey how did-” Larry paused taking in the sight of the Zulu holding the unconscious child, the night guard was well versed enough to notice the remains of absolute terror that radiated off the young man. “Ah, he conk out on you mid step then?”

Surprised eyes snapped up to meet his, “How, how did you know?”

“Ahkmen’s got a habit of it. I’m impressed though, didn’t think he’d manage it running.”

“There was no warning.” Admitted the young man, still looking mildly shocked, “One moment he was with me. Next moment down.”

“Yeah, yeah that sounds pretty typical, it’s cool though, he’s fine, you’re fine and Sac isn’t going to kill you.”

Bhekabantu raised an eyebrow.

“Trust me, I know that look of fear, it’s usually on my face.”

The both shared a relieved grin, “look,” continued Larry, “no harm no foul.”

“What do birds have to do with this?”

“No that’s fowl, I mean nothing bad.”

“Your English words are confusing.”

“Tell me about it buddy.”

“I just did.”

“No, I mean,” Larry gave up, “you know what? Yes, yes English is confusing as all hell and I salute you all for learning.”

“We have good teachers.” the young man smiled, finally relaxing.

“That we do, that we do.”

“Oh thank the great sprit! He’s asleep! What did you do?” A very tired looking Sacagawea appeared carrying a JB who was clothed only in a cloth diaper closely followed by a hatless, gloveless and jacketless Teddy. The 26th president mopped his brow and sighed with relief.

“He looks out for the count! Well done my lad!”

“It was nothing,” the smile that tugged at the warrior’s mouth said otherwise. Larry had been making a point of including ALL the museum exhibits in stuff, trying to make everyone feel more comfortable and generally welcome. According to Attila some of the exhibits had had a rougher time than others, not as rough as Ahk or Teddy or Sac in that respect obviously but still, Larry was determined EVERYONE felt welcome, wanted and free.

“No, it was most certainly something,” asserted Sac, “I can’t thank you enough. What with the heat Jean-Baptiste will not settle and it’s hard to focus on two children at once when it feels like all I want to do is sleep.”

“Then I am glad to have helped.”

“We really appreciate it my boy, we’re very grateful of a reprieve.” Teddy took the sleeping child from the Zulu who bowed once Teddy had the little boy clasped tightly in his arms.

“We are of one family here, a unit with the same purpose, we must assist each other.

“Quite right my boy, quite right.”

“Did the run go well?” asked Sac, smiling at the young man, eternally grateful she didn’t have to deal with an-overly hyped Ahkmen before bedtime.

“He ran far for one so small,” complimented Bhekabantu,“the easy route but I made it last, made it seem new when it was old.”

“Aha, clever.”

“I did not wish him to bore, we raced at times too.”             

“Excellent, you’ve done a good job man, thank you.” Larry eyed the Zulu worriedly before offering, “Do you want any water?”

The young man smiled, “Thank you but no, I need it not. This magic is something I like to test, I want to see how far I can go. This air, the heat of it is nearest to home as I can remember. There is no one else now to think of today. I wish to see how long, how far.”

Larry wasn’t sure what to say to that, it sounded like hell to him but hey, whatever worked for people, “Well, um, good luck with that.”

“Thank you guardian.” Bhekabantu bowed once more, flashed a quick grin at the sleeping child and launched easily into a sprint.

“You know,” Larry sighed, “I really need to get people to stop calling me that.” 

Teddy smiled knowingly, “Why fight a losing battle Lawrence?”

“It does fit you, you know,” added Sac helpfully, “you are a guardian Larry, even if you don’t consider yourself one.”

“You two are so not helping.” The pair smirked at their friend, “Yeah, yeah,” continued the night guard, “I’m not guarding you guys against the weather all that well, air con’s still bust.”

“Indeed but we’ll manage, there’s only so much you can do, and I can tell you, I’ve spent a good few heatwaves within these hallowed halls and this is by far the calmest and most peaceable one.”

That surprised Larry, “Really?”

Teddy leaned in conspiratorially, “Really.”

“Oh,” Larry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “well, um, that’s nice.”

Teddy and Sac shared a look, a familiar one to the pair of them that meant ‘one day we are going to make him see his worth.’

“However,” continued Teddy, attempting to fill the slightly awkward silence, “we’ve not had a heatwave where we’ve had to marshal a heat-proof child.”

“No, fair enough. Any ideas of what we can do?”

“I’d like to take him outside but since the only place that is safe from prying eyes is the roof I don’t think it is worth the risk.”

“Yeah, no, I am not dealing with a small child who forgets he can’t fly.”

It had been one of Larry’s many Ahkmen-based nightmares that the child would get over-exuberant in the fresh air and make some miscalculated leap into the unforgiving Manhattan skyline. He had absolutely no idea if the tablet could mend broken mini-pharaohs but he was categorically NOT going to find out. He was pretty sure superglue would not be an acceptable back up plan and if it happened on his watch, if the horror didn’t kill him Sac certainly would.

“So the roof is out until we can guarantee that we can keep him on it.” Agreed Sacagawea.

“What about this Lawrence?”

Larry turned to look at Teddy who, with the ease of a well-practiced parent, had shifted Ahkmen onto one shoulder, freeing up his right arm to sift through many leaflets adorning the main desk.

“What you got?”

“A family fun day, some sort of summer festival in central park this Saturday.”

“Well that’s no good, he’s only awake after—”

Teddy cut him off, presidential tone slicing through Larry’s words, “I didn’t finish.”

Larry shut up immediately.

“What it says is that it’s a festival of some sort, a carnival celebration that is intended to be 24 hours in Central Park, I believe commemorating the notion of ‘the city that never sleeps’, security will be present and activities for young ones will be running till midnight.”

Larry’s jaw dropped, “What? Really?”

“Indeed Lawrence, see for yourself.”          

Larry scanned the flyer, Teddy was right, this was perfect.

“Why are they holding such an event?” Asked Sac puzzled at the idea of such festivities in the city.

Larry shrugged, “it’s New York, they don’t need a reason to party.”

“So it seems.”

“Look, guys this could be the perfect thing,” The night guard’s eyes were taking on an excited sheen, “it’s meant to get even hotter this weekend, Ahkmen’s going to explode if he doesn’t get outside soon.”

“I agree entirely but you can you really leave the museum for that long? I mean, of course we would keep an eye here but we’ve never had a night guard leave these hallowed halls during an evening and—”

“Wait, Teddy, buddy, actually,” he paused, trying to find the right words deciding to just try and come out with it, “actually I was going to ask you and Sac if you two wouldn’t mind taking him out?”

Teddy looked astonished. “Us? Outside? But—”

Sac jumped in, hardly daring to hope, “Truly? You would permit us?”

Larry was dumbfounded, “Whoa, guys, what do you mean ‘permit’? Of course you can go outside, I mean, I’d rather you didn’t in your costumes since, you know, attracting attention is a bad thing but if you ever wanted to go outside you could, I’m not going to stop you, I wouldn’t announce it to the world but I trust you guys, I trust everyone here who can understand me since you know, it’s hard to know what I’m saying if you don’t speak English or Larry or both but yeah, of course, I can only ask you guys to do stuff, you know, and ask nicely, what you guys still thought—?” Larry was beginning to look horrified.

“No,” Teddy was quick to reassure, “it’s not that you were being tyrannical, not in the slightest, it just, well, it honestly hadn’t occurred had it my love?” He turned to Sacagawea for back up.

“No, never,” she agreed, still looking incredibly excited, almost glowing as she spoke, “much as I would like to explore this new world we have only ventured outside in emergencies. It never crossed my mind that we might be able to leave, the threat of the sun has always been so great.”

“Well, you know, dawn is a long way off, and it wouldn’t be for all of the night anyway, plus, you know, you guys, you’re sensible you’re not about to run off or cause a scene or anything, I mean, like, mass migration like when I first started? That is a bad plan but this, on occasion, this could work, you know, I mean, you don’t have to if—”

“No, we want to.” Cut in Sac immediately, “we would love to take Ahkmen and Jean-Baptiste out on Saturday.”

“Yes, quite, both of us, and the children if you are willing.”

Larry beamed in equal parts relief and amusement, it wasn’t often he got to see the pair of them so flustered and excited. “Great, thanks guys I owe you one for this.”

“Is there anything we should know about?”

“Know about?”

“About the event, things we should probably know about society, if we are to blend in, I am not familiar with the world outside nor is my bear,” she turned to Teddy, “though you are more up to date than I, this is your city after all.”

Teddy blushed. “Well, I did have a hand in some of the constructions.” He understated impressively.

Larry loved to watch Sac gently tease Teddy, it never got old watching the usually effusive and jovial president get hot under the collar.

“I’ll get you some leaflets and stuff but in general, it’s August 2007, George W. Bush is president, always tip people and don’t trust anyone.”

“Really, that’s hardly encouraging.”

“Trust me, people can be—”

“Oh I know, ne’erdowells and nincompoops, you stressed that last time we ventured outside. We will be keeping a close eye on Ahkmen you have our fullest assurances.”

“Why do you think I’m asking you guys? I know you’ll do a good job.”

“Thank you Larry, thank you for your faith in us.”

“Sac, honestly, there are no other people in the world I trust more than you two.”

“Still, it is an honour, and one we do not take lightly,” She kissed Larry’s cheek gently to emphasise her point.

It was the night guard’s turn to blush hard, praise from his friends was something unexpected (despite the regularity on which that praise occurred) and very much savoured.

“And now I think it’s time to get these boys to bed.”

“Yeah,” Larry cleared his throat, “good call. You know, I never thought putting them down together would still work, you would think Ahkmen would get bored of JB stealing his space all the time.”

“On the contrary, Ahkmen settles far more quickly if he shares with his baby brother and Teti. He adores them and cuddles them both tightly, it’s a challenge to prise him off most nights.” 

“Speaking of, where is she? I haven’t seen her all night.”

“Ahkmen left her in his room, she was very tired he said and his room was cooler. She apparently doesn’t like the heat, being made of fluffy things so he wanted her to be comfortable since she refused him when he offered her a soak in the sink to cool down.”

“Wise bear.”

“Indeed, she is rather aware of things especially to do with our young friend.”

“You know, one of these days I’ll bring in Nicky’s old Winnie the Pooh books, he’s a bear of very little brain but he’s pretty wise in all cases. Might make a nice bedtime story or two.”

“That would be lovely Larry, I’m sure Ahkmen and Jean-Baptiste will appreciate it.”

“Sure thing.”

“Well, goodnight Lawrence, no doubt we shall see you later.”

“Yeah, later guys.”

With that family Saca-Roosevelt headed off with both their sleeping charges.

***

In the days that followed the exhibits did their best to keep cool, Larry had completely given up on both jacket and tie but had managed to commandeer as many fans as he could find in the various offices and set them up in the most populated areas which made the environment marginally more tolerable.

Sac had taken JB for a bath to try and help cool him off which Ahkmen immediately insisted in joining in, Sacagawea and Teddy had tried to mediate the situation by saying he could help bathe his little brother but that he himself didn’t need a bath.

It took roughly the seven seconds both parents had their backs turned for Ahkmen to be as naked as his baby brother sitting in the large stone sink that served as their bath babbling happily to the infant and playing with his beloved rubber ducks.

Sac and Teddy sighed. Well, at least they’d tried to preserve Ahk’s modesty for when he returned to them. Oh well, it seemed there was no further point in worrying now.

The shrill shrieks of delight drew Larry’s attention who took one look at the situation, opened his mouth then looking at his friend’s faces gave up, Ahk was going to freak out whatever happened when he returned, one bath or 500 it really made no difference.

However, it did give him an idea.

He headed over to the kitchen and after a quick, successful hunt he found what he was after, three fairly large Tupperware boxes. He sat them on the side and looked at them critically, he needed something else before they were going to be useful. He rootled about some more before finding some cocktail sticks and twine. Larry considered, it might do, but if he could find something that would quicker and easier to assemble that would be best.

He was in luck.

After a thorough raid of the lost and found box he laid his hands on the jackpot. It didn’t take him long to put together everything like he wanted. It should do the trick. Now to offer his idea to those who might appreciate it.

***

Jed and Octavius, like the rest of the dioramas, were sweltering. Ancient Rome and Texan summers were one thing but New York heat waves when you’re three inches tall were not fun. Even the Mayans were uncomfortable, this heat was unyielding and stifling and tempers were fraying.

The romans, after approval from Octavius had shed their armour and the cowboys and railway workers likewise had stripped out of several layers. It was hot, dry and miserable.

The first few days were tolerable, people talked, relaxed, played a few games but the longer it went on the hotter and more disgruntled people became. Arguments over petty things broke out, it was all Jed and Octavius could do to moderate things, it wasn’t even between romans and cowboys half the time, but between friends, co-workers, people who’d got on for the last 54 years (in part at least due to their unity against ‘the others’ in the next diorama). They’d not left their hall since the start of the heatwave, had barely seen each to other in the last few days as the duties of good leadership called and required some diplomacy and some head smacking. As such, both men were getting testy themselves. Jed put it down to this “God-damn unnatural abomination of a heatwave of tarnation” whereas Octavius, who whilst quietly wondering what they’d done to incur the wrath of Vulcan whom surely must be sending the heat of his forges to announce his displeasure, was more aware of what truly behind his increasingly short temper.

He missed Jedediah.

He missed their adventures together, exploring the wider world of the museum, talking for hours as they looked up at the stars from the safety of the sill they had assailed. He missed his friend’s easy company, their discussions over culture similarities, differences, philosophies and memories. They talked about what they remembered of their lives before something neither man shared with anyone else, they’d grown a solid trust remarkably quickly once they’d put aside their differences and it was a constant source of joy for Octavius. Which was why it was one of the reasons bothering him that they’d not seen each other properly for a while.

The appearance of Ahkmen and his continuing presence had shaken Jed badly. Much as he would be the first to say he ‘loved the lil’tyke, he’s made outta goddamn sunshine’ it did remind him categorically that he was in a museum, he’d never have the children he’d wanted, hell, the life he’d wanted. That Ahkmen was the closest he was now ever going to get to that experience. The cowboy had thought he’d come to terms with that but seeing the child on a nearly daily basis (Ahkmen utterly adored the pair of them) had reopened old wounds. He’d only confided to Octavius, something the roman general took as a great honour, he himself had never considered the possibility of children, being an uncle was enough, his duty to the empire came first. And as such he’d been trying his best to distract his best friend, he couldn’t bear to see him unhappy and whilst this heatwave was technically a distraction it was only fuelling his temper.

Given that this was the current situation Octavius was dealing with the appearance of Larry was something akin to a godsend. It was even better when he heard what the night guard suggested.

The pair enthusiastically agreed to his plan, grinning happily at each other for the first time in days as they awaited his return with the supplies.

“This is gonna be great!” crowed Jed who’d thrown his arms around his friend in his exuberance.  “Why’d we never think to ask for this last bunch o’times the museum got sweatier than an armpit in Kansas?”

“Because,” Octavius began hoping to cover his blush as an excuse of the weather, “the previous guardians had no consideration of us or our needs”

Jed sobered, “yeah, you’re right there, what was it?” Jed began to imitate, “‘You ain’t real, you can’t feel the heat so quit your whining’” He grimaced. Whilst yes, technically they couldn’t starve or dehydrate, every time the sun rose they were returned to an optimal state they could still get uncomfortable, it was the memory of heat and physical feelings if nothing else but the point was the environment could effect them, the fact they’d survived in the cold no problem when dealing with the old guards the third night Larry had taken over had been mainly down to the fact they were so focused on their mission they honestly hadn’t noticed it, plus the tablet command returned them back in one piece to the museum and probably a lot faster if it had been their own wills guiding their feet .

And Larry cared.

Larry had come by to ask them if they were okay, had previously brought some ice cubes around to help keep them cool as electric fans were completely off the cards since it would blow them all down the hall.

They were eternally grateful to the night guard for viewing them all as people.

The men didn’t have to wait long for the Guardian of Brooklyn to return.

“Right, so um, I got three containers, they were the only decent ones I could find so one can go to the Mayans and I thought you guys could share these two, I figured maybe male and female if you wanted to give the ladies some privacy or you know just use them however. I’ve got some Lego brick stairs I made out of the lost and found but if you guys wanted to make your own ladders then there’s some cocktail sticks and twine I cut up that you could use if that’s better? If you tell me where you want them I’ll go get the water.”

Larry had realised that maybe privacy might be an issue for the western ladies at least and all the ladies might want a break from the guys but he wasn’t there to dictate, however best it worked for them they could sort themselves out. All he needed to do was supply water and make sure the Lego steps in and out held.

Jed and Octavius were nearly fizzing with excitement, they were going to get their own pool! Octavius had missed the civilisation of the baths, it was something he had always availed himself of whenever he had the chance.

Until the museum.

He had considered requesting something like that in the early days but quickly dismissed the idea, it was foolish to give the previous night guards an opportunity to exploit. If he let on that there were things that would make his men more comfortable, that would allay their fears then they would use that against him or simply continue to ignore their existence save for locking them up.

He and Jed both had asked Larry not to explain what he was doing wanting to surprise their people, both men looking forward to the joy it would bring.

Larry was quick to return. He was beyond pleased that the guys had liked the idea, had been basically bouncing up and down at the thought, it made him move all the quicker, at least he could do this for them, he might not be able to make everyone comfortable but he could at least do this.

Following Jed and Octavius’ request he set up one container in each diorama, added the steps and the water and once he made sure it was safe left them to it. Stopping only to make sure the Mayans understood they weren’t allowed to drown anyone in their pool no matter how annoyed they got with the **Pelota Purépecha teams, he’d had to have a very stern word with all of them of why they couldn’t play fire hockey indoors, normal Mayan hockey was fine so long as no one tried to actively kill another person however the fire ball version was banned.** B’alam had accepted the terms with grace at least, he knew better than to test the patience of this pale guardian of the night, it was better to keep him in good spirits than to antagonise him. Especially when he was the supplier of sustenance worthy of the Gods.

Larry gave the hall once last check over before heading off to make sure everyone else was okay, he had to admit, bribing the Mayans to behave with gummi sweets had been one of his better ideas, there were far less willing to cause trouble when they knew he would withhold the treats. The fact that they considered them divine gifts was a bonus.

With a satisfied nod to himself he headed off on his rounds.

***

The romans and westerners viewed the new additions to their displays with unabashed delight. The ladies quickly declared their rights to their own pool, Claudia, Choi Hei-Jyut and Sarah citing in equal parts common decency, peace and the lack of will to share with ‘a bunch o’guys stinking worse than a month-old stable.’ As it was, technically, they couldn’t really sweat or smell, and they would return to crisp freshness every sundown however, it was the principle of the matter.

The men saw off the ladies without too much complaint, it meant they could behave far more immaturely than usual (The fact that the ladies planned to do exactly the same thing was something they weren’t about to share).

As soon as they were gone the guys began to strip down, whooping with delight. Jed joined in with them until he caught sight of the romans, specifically Octavius also tugging off his tunic.

“Wait, what?” His question was almost drowned out but Octavius caught the tone, Jed was distressed for some reason.

“What’s the matter my friend?”

“You’re stripping off too?!” The cowboy was incredulous.

“Why yes of course, it is rather warm Jedediah. I thought you might have noticed as we have been complaining of that very fact for several days. I intend to alleviate that with a swim. Aren’t you?” The roman general was honestly puzzled by his friend’s reaction.

“But you’re going in naked?!”

“Of course, how you do expect to swim?” Asked Octavius mildly, completely oblivious to the conniptions he was causing Jed. “There is no point in constricting yourself in clothing, the great baths in Rome had a number of pools for swimming and bathing. I wish you could have seen them.” He got that wistful look that usually crossed his face every time he thought of Rome.

Jed huffed. It wasn’t like he’d never swum naked before, the rivers and lakes had been havens of fun and cleanliness as they’d crossed the country building the transcontinental railroad. Normally he’d be the first to leap in as God made him but, well, he hadn’t even considered Octavius doing the same. He’d been the last to remove his armour, he always was so proper and dignified or at least, tried to be when he wasn’t being driven around at the break neck speeds Jed liked. He wasn’t really ready to deal with this. But Octavius was looking all confused and it made Jed mad as hell because he was feeling things he no idea what to do about or even think about. Octavius was his best friend. He wasn’t supposed to get all mushy thinking about him and he definitely wasn’t supposed to get hot under the collar at the idea of swimming around with him. Right then. Best thing he could do in this situation was the way he dealt with all situations involving doing anything fun with Octavius, ignore the holy hell out of the butterflies that had snuck into his belly unannounced and carry on as normal. Octavius didn’t need to know that he made Jed’s guts do weird things whenever he laughed. Nope he just needed to be Jed’s best friend and carry on being his best friend. And Jed needed to man the hell up. “Okay, I jus’ thought you romans would have some fancy swimming gear for stuff like this.”

Octavius laughed, “we may be technologically advanced in some ways my friend but why complicate things unnecessarily?”

With that Octavius shucked the last of his garments, way to excited to notice anything else, including his friend and climbed the steps to dive happily into cool, refreshing waters. Jed’s eyes had been fixed firmly on the ground, he braced himself as he swallowed all of his reservations and followed suit. God damn was he glad the water was cold. 

***

Things seemed to be going well despite the heat, the miniatures were appreciating their makeshift pools, the fans were working and the Ocean life exhibit was peaceful. Just enough time to sort out the next big thing on his list. Getting Family Saca-Roosevelt ready go out tonight.

“Hey guys, um, I got you some stuff that should be okay, I mean you can’t go out wearing what you’ve got here so, well I got some things, I think they should fit, I hope they’re okay and—”

“Lawrence, stop babbling.” Smiled Teddy fondly, “I’m sure they will work for us no problem.”

“Right, yeah sure, um what are you telling Ahkmen?”

Sac spoke up, “That the Gods have been pleased with his behaviour and that there is a celebration taking place out in their realm and we have been permitted to visit it.”

Larry nodded in agreement, “Ok, cool that should work.”

“Also,” added Teddy, “we’re making sure he knows not to tell people where he comes from as people could get jealous and bad if they think he’s from the hall of the Gods.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was worried about but then again, he’s five, most kids at that age are pirates, dinosaurs and dogs in one afternoon. No one will take him all that seriously, so long as you guys have a decent cover…?” He trailed off looking hopeful.

“Yes Lawrence, we’ve talked about this, we are to be man and wife, parents to Ahkmen and Jean Baptiste as we understand a family like this is no longer unacceptable?”

It took Larry a second to realise what Teddy was saying, “Yeah, no, not a problem anymore or at least, not a problem to sensible people.”

“Yes, that is something I am very glad I do not share with my original, whilst he was a great man he failed to see the nobility in the native tribes of this land.” He turned to face Sac, “something I swear never to do.”

She kissed his cheek affectionately, “you could not close your eyes like that my bear.”

“No, no I certainly couldn’t.” He realised he’d rather strayed from what he had been saying, it was far too easy to be lost in Sacagawea’s dark gaze, “But yes, um, anyway, we thought that shouldn’t be too much of a problem in light of the modern world. We were planning on explaining Ahkmen’s name is his version of Andrew, that it took him a while to master it and Ahkmen was his best attempt when he was a toddler and it’s stuck as a pet name if anyone asks. Just in case it raises questions as it does not seem to fit with Ted or ‘Wea or JB.”

“Yeah that’s a good move. So you think you’re set?”

“We will be once we change into the clothes you’ve provided. Thank you again for your consideration Larry, we really appreciate it.”

Larry looked awkward, the way he usually did when anyone thanked him sincerely, “hey, it’s fine, I just wanted to make sure you guys got a chance to get out without getting a load of attention.”

“And we’re very grateful. We’ll be back in a moment.”

They withdrew quickly, Sac heading for the staff room and Teddy the men’s rest room (he was ever the gentleman, determined to preserve Sac’s modesty. As it was Sacagawea had her own thoughts on the matter but she appreciated the chivalric intent for the moment) to change into the clothes Larry provided. Whilst they were gone Ahkmen bounded over to the night guard.

“Larry guardian!” The child threw himself at the man he was beginning to consider an uncle wrapping himself happily around the man in his standard greeting.

Larry grinned, delighted Ahkmen was actually so openly affectionate to him now, he supposed it meant that the child has decided he was trustworthy. “Hey there little buddy, how are you doing?”

The usual torrent of talk poured out of the excited child, “I’m very well thank you! It’s still so nice and warm! How are you? Are you well? Are doing anything nice? Have you seen Moon Mother and Papa Bear and Jumble? They were here before when I woke and I played with Jumble and cuddled him but then they said they had to come see you so I played cartwheels with Kjartan till I got dizzy and he got tired and I thought they might have found you by now and what’s happening are we going to do anything fun today? Why is it so warm? Are—?”

He stopped, mouth falling open in surprise when he caught sight of Sac, Teddy and Jean-Baptiste appear around the corner.

Teddy was dressed in a pair of Larry’s jeans and boots, a new dark blue t-shirt and a blue striped over shirt. He’d taken off his hat and gloves too adding to the whole relaxed vibe he was sending out and indeed looked, for all the world, like a modern dad at the weekend.

Sacagawea too looked very different but none the less relaxed, in a green summer dress patterned with flowers and fruits. She’d swapped the moccasins for the sandals Larry had provided for the sheer novelty of having something different on her feet though she kept her necklace and earrings on as usual. One of the biggest changes what her hair, she decided to try something different since the opportunity was presented, after 54 years being exactly the same the option to alter things, just for the night, was very appealing. Very carefully she undid her braids and brushed out her long hair, allowing it to flow freely over her shoulders.

It took Teddy a moment to collect his jaw, whilst in his opinion Sacagawea would look beautiful in a hessian sack it was quite a shock to see her in something different, the button up summer dress was rather more fitted to her than her buckskin dress. She beamed at his response, it was still a new experience to get such a genuine response from someone she was partnered to.

“I take it you approve?”

Larry nudged Teddy who was still stood agape at the sight before him. Ahkmen leapt into the breech instead, “Moon Mother! Your dress has changed! This one is very pretty! And your hair is all long and shiny!”

Sac smiled widely at the little boy, “Thank you little moon,” she bent down to hug him, rubbing her nose against his, “you’re just as handsome as always.” She continued, kissing his cheek. The movement spurred Teddy to actually talk.

He coughed, trying vainly to get a hold of himself, “oh, yes, yes of course you look radiant my dear, you always look radiant whatever you wear but yes, the green well, quite…” He trailed off, still agog.

Sac turned to Larry, “I have you to thank for this, it’s lovely.”

“I’m glad you like it, it really does look good on you. Sandals fit okay? I kinda had to guess your size.”

“You’ve done very well, it’s not often I get to try something new and these are very comfortable.”

“Well you’re very welcome, did JB’s stuff fit okay?”

“Yes, I think Ahkmen will approve of your choices too.”

“Why Moon-Mother?”

“Look over my shoulder and you’ll see.” He looked over and saw his adoptive little brother grinning up at him wearing a Spiderman t-shirt over a modern diaper.

“Jumble! You have Spiderman too!” Ahkmen was utterly delighted, he’d become an even bigger fan of Spiderman since Larry, encouraged by Teddy and Sac to build on the trust Ahkmen was beginning to properly show towards him, had begun to read to him at bedtime from his old comic book collection. Larry being a native of New York had collected stories of heroes from his hometown, he’d liked the adventures of Spiderman but preferred (if he was honest) the real-life adventures of Captain America.

“That’s right my boy, and look what Lawrence has brought for you as well.” Teddy proffered the child a new, matching design t-shirt as that of his adoptive brother. Ahkmen trilled with excitement, tugging off his dungarees straps to wiggle out of his current dinosaur t-shirt. Teddy helped him put the new one on and re-did the straps with practiced efficiency.

As soon as Ahkmen was free he flung himself at Larry, “Thank you Larry-Guardian! I love it! I can look just like Jumble now! Everyone will know we are brothers!” Larry laughed, picking up the exuberant child and laughed when he was rewarded with sloppy, loving kiss to cheek.

“Hey, you’re welcome little buddy. Glad you like it!”

The child considered, gifts usually had a purpose. Visitors always brought his daddy a gift when they came because they had something they wanted to do or talk about. “Why do I have a new Spiderman?”

“Because Ahkmen, we have a surprise for you.”

The child’s eyes lit up. Ahkmen loved surprises.

“Well little moon,” spoke up Sacagawea, “we have been blessed by the Gods. Today is a festival of theirs and we are invited to leave their halls and join in with the festivities.”

“Really?! We are? We can go outside with the peasants!?”

Sacagawea just about managed to repress both an eye roll and a sigh, “They’re not peasants Ahkmen,” she explained patiently once again, “merely people who dwell within the realm of the Gods. Don’t call them peasants.”

Ahkmen considered, it wasn’t worth arguing with Moon Mother, “Oh alright.” He huffed, before brightening, “But we can go outside?” he pressed urgently.

Sac smiled widely, betraying her own excitement, “Yes little moon, we can.”

“One thing my boy, you cannot tell people where we live.”

“Why?” Ahkmen was incredulous, “We’re in the hall of the Gods, it’s an honour!”

Teddy smiled warmly at the child, his manner ever-patient, “I know that and you know that but how would everyone else feel? Would you be jealous if someone told you that they were chosen by the Gods and you weren’t?”

“But I am!” cried the tiny princeling

“But if you weren’t?” Pressed Teddy gently, patiently awaiting the realisation to dawn.

“But, but,” Ahkmen, stopped, thinking about what it was like at the palace, playing with Neferti and Amhotep. The way they would look at him when he wanted to play a game they didn’t and when their parents made them go along with his wishes. He just wanted to play. But he remembered their faces how angry they looked. He tried harder after that to play games they all liked. He didn’t like being different. He had begun to forget, everyone in the halls were kind and played with him. But they didn’t let him have his own way all the time, he still had to do things he didn’t like, play games that weren’t his favourite and whilst it might be something to grumble about, at least he knew it was better to play together.

The child looked up at Teddy with what he and other adults had begun to call the ‘pharaoh eyes’ a gaze that belonged to someone much older than Ahkmen, they wondered how many lessons he had already had to learn about life and politics. “I know Papa Bear,” the little boy sighed, “it’s better they don’t know. I won’t tell them, I promise.”

Teddy swallowed down the emotion that had risen painfully in his chest. Ahkmen was far too young to have such an understanding of the world. Instead he ruffled the child’s hair, “that’s my boy. Well done. Now are you ready to go and join the celebrations?”

“Yes! Yes please!” The little boy whooped with joy, leaping into Teddy’s arms.

“Well then Lawrence, I believe we shall see you later.” He freed one arm to reach for Sac, “are you ready my dear?”

“Oh yes,” her eyes shining in anticipation, “I am most ready. We shall see you later Larry, she beamed, we shall return for bedtime.”

“Have a great time guys, and here,” he handed Sac $20 bill, “take this, for ice cream or something.”

Sac’s eyes widened, “for us? Are you sure?”

Larry fixed her with a determined stare, “it’s not a visit to Central Park in summer without ice cream. Take it, you all deserve it. Have fun.”

“Thank you Larry,” Sac willed her eyes not to water, “I cannot thank you enough. We will see you later.” With that family Saca-Roosevelt, hand in hand, headed off towards the loading bay, ready to step out in to the warm summer night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading this and for being so patient with me!   
> I promise I will get part two to you as soon as possible, but I also promise as long as I take this whole series will be finished eventually.   
> Please let me know what you think, I read every comment and they absolutely keep me going!
> 
> Thanks again!

**Author's Note:**

> So there we have it, Ahkmen is firmly fixed into the museum family and Teddy and Sac and Larry have all talked this through properly. This is the first part of a new story arc in this series, I hope to update monthly! Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think! :)


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